Who Should I Start? Javonte Williams or Elijah Mitchell

Thursday, September 21, 11:22 PM

Denver Broncos running back Javonte Williams was expected to be eased into the offense early in 2023 after tearing his ACL and LCL in Week 4 of 2022. He's played exactly 45% of the offensive snaps in two games so far this year and has handled 25 carries for 96 yards (3.8 yards per carry) while catching six passes for 19 yards on nine targets. Despite averaging just over seven half-PPR points through two weeks, it was encouraging to see Williams get all but three of the carries in Denver's backfield in the Week 3 loss to the Washington Commanders. The 23-year-old's workload should only continue to grow as the season goes on, and in Week 3 he'll face a Miami Dolphins defense that has allowed the fourth-most half-PPR points to RBs through two games. Williams will be an RB2/3 in fantasy with a chance for his first breakout game in 2023.

Friday, September 22, 11:29 AM

San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan made good on his promise to get running back Elijah Mitchell involved in the game plan after Mitchell didn't play at all in the Week 2 win over the Los Angeles Rams. On Thursday night in the 30-12 win over the New York Giants, Mitchell saw a season-high 11 carries for 42 yards and caught all three of his targets for two yards. It was nice to see the 25-year-old get more involved in a game that wasn't close at all late, but Mitchell's week-to-week workload could vary drastically based on game flow, and as long as bell-cow Christian McCaffrey is healthy and doing his thing, Mitchell isn't going to have standalone fantasy value. He could, however, see another solid workload in a Week 4 matchup with the lowly Arizona Cardinals.